Support justice-driven, accurate and transparent news — make a quick donation to Truthout today! 

This story was originally reported by Orion Rummler of The 19th. Meet Orion and read more of their reporting on gender, politics and policy.

The United States is using the full power of the federal government to restrict gender-affirming care for transgender youth.

The American Psychological Association has accused the Trump administration of ignoring science and undermining mental health through its anti-trans policies. Groups including Planned Parenthood, AIDS United and the Human Rights Campaign see these tactics as a serious threat to the private medical information of everyone, not just trans people. If doctors can’t provide treatment without fear of political retaliation, these advocacy groups say, public health will be harmed.

In response to pressure from the administration, many hospitals across the country have stopped seeing young trans patients, including some in states where gender-affirming care is protected.

Youth transition care is banned in 27 states, according to KFF, a nonpartisan health policy organization — and 24 states impose penalties against healthcare practitioners who provide it. Half of trans teenagers in the United States live in states where care is already banned,per the Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law.

As a reminder, gender-affirming care in a medical setting refers totaking puberty blockers as a preteen, hormone therapy as a teenager, or, for a small minority of transgender youth, surgery. Not all trans youth pursue all of these treatments.

New HUD Proposal Targets Trans Housing Protections

We break down how federal agencies are taking unprecedented action to keep physicians from providing the care and what’s coming next.

The Justice Department

For over a year, the Department of Justice (DOJ) has been investigating whether off-label promotion or dispensing of puberty blockers and hormones for trans minors violated federal law, like the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FDCA).

As part of that investigation, the DOJ has tried to force hospitals to share names of patients under 18 who have received gender-affirming care in the past five to seven years, plus names of staff who provided the care. The agency is also digging forinternal hospital emails, social media metadata (which includes timestamps and location), and any exchanges with pharmaceutical companies making puberty blockers or hormones.

The DOJ has sent dozens of civil subpoenas to hospitals across the country seeking this information.

Now, the department has escalated this effort through a federal criminal investigation into gender-affirming care. At least three hospitals have received grand jury subpoenas for years of data on adolescent patients: NYU Langone........

© Truthout